Michigan

Updated on September 1, 2017 at 11:00 AMPosted on September 1, 2017 at 10:53 AM

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos tours the Van Andel Institute where students in the Cohort Program were studying in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017. DeVos took questions from the students that ranged from her favorite color to her stance on transportation and schools of choice. (Neil Blake / MLive.com)

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos tours the Van Andel Institute where students in the Cohort Program were studying in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017. DeVos took questions from the students that ranged from her favorite color to her stance on transportation and schools of choice. (Neil Blake / MLive.com)

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been asked to attend the opening of Michigan State University's Grand Rapids Research Center, and some in the MSU community are protesting the invitation.

DeVos, a West Michigan native, was invited to speak at the center's opening ceremony set for Sept. 20, spokesperson Jason Cody said Thursday evening.

The U.S. Department of Education has not returned request for comment asking for confirmation on whether DeVos will attend. The $88 million medical research center is expected to accommodate up to 44 research teams, each of which will be headed by a principal investigator and a team of about six researchers. The new facility will feature high-tech laboratory equipment that researchers will use to study Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, pediatric neurology, autism and other diseases.

Dr. Caryl Sortwell, a professor of translational science and molecular medicine, started a petition Thursday afternoon urging MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon and College of Human Medicine Dean Norman Beauchamp to reconsider the invite. As of Friday morning, that petition has nearly 900 signatures.

"We were horrified -- the best analogy I've heard is that it's like inviting an iceberg to give a keynote at the launch of the Titanic," said Sortwell, who said she and other researchers at the building were informed of the invitation Wednesday.

Sortwell said she and others who have invested so much energy into making the Grand Rapids Research Center a reality are not protesting DeVos as an individual or her personal political views, but rather the views she represents as a member of President Donald Trump's administration. She said the policies DeVos is backing are not what MSU stands for as an institution and shouldn't be highlighted at the research center's opening ceremony.

"We are so grateful that it's happening, and it wouldn't be possible without all the partners in the community," she said. "It's a wonderful event that now has been just tarnished for many people if she is allowed to keynote at it."

A physical protest outside the Grand Rapids Research Center is also being planned for the ceremony, said Sarah Kelly, a PhD candidate studying Alzheimer's Disease who is set to work in the new facility.

"She really just doesn't represent MSU as a whole," Kelly said of DeVos. "As a student, I feel almost offended that they think she would be a good person to introduce this new building."